Over a year after Widespread Panic canceled its three-night stay in Chicago (originally scheduled for February 2024), the juggernauts of jam rolled into the Windy City for a blustery mid-week run at the impressive Chicago Theatre. The city has long been a hot spot for blues musicians and jazz clubs, and it waited patiently on the north end of Highway 61. When the time finally came, the unstoppable fanbase streamed in from all directions to witness history in the making for Panic’s first trip to Chicago since 2021.
Rolling up his sleeves, the bombastic bassist, Dave Schools, opened a black hole to expose the blue-skied paradise of “From the Cradle” (LTP 3/4/23 at the all-original show in Las Vegas) before metamorphosing the melody into “Imitation Leather Shoes”. Without stopping, WSP lifted the “Weight of the World” off Wednesday’s shoulders and carried the payload into “Party At Your Mama’s House”. The instrumental began slow and mellow with fistfuls of Sunny Ortiz’s drums until Jimmy Herring took the reins to gallop into an expansive jam.
Widespread Panic — “From The Cradle” — 6/4/25
[Video: MrTopdogger]
Following several teases, John Bell‘s slide guitar, and Jimmy Herring’s flamethrower of notes, WSP careened into Robert Johnson’s “Stop Breaking Down Blues”. JB added a zesty Hound Dog Taylor-inspired “Gimme Back My Wig” rap to complete the re-energized blues traditional.
After stopping for the first time, JoJo Hermann’s piano broke the silence to crystallize “This Part of Town” before unleashing a beastly “Big Wooly Mammoth”. JoJo switched out the song’s lyrics to make it more geographically appropriate, and Schools was quick to one-up him. JoJo started with “Somebody throw me a fire / so we can burn Chicago down” before Schools quipped “like Mrs. O’Leary’s cow”—a reference to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
Once he was given room to roam, Jimmy Herring scorched a trail of destruction through the tail end of “Big Wooly Mammoth” and into an electrifying “Radio Child”. Maneuvering through supersonic frequencies, WSP punctuated the first frame with an extended performance of “Little by Little”. Clearly gaining confidence playing this new tune, Panic sprawled the song for almost ten minutes and honored Chicagoan native, gospel and R&B legend, Roebuck “Pops” Staples (“Pops, Junior, and Holy Ghost”).
Widespread Panic — “Big Wooly Mammoth” > “Radio Child” — 6/4/25
[Video: Jessi Ware]
With a crashing cymbal and rolling drums, Duane Trucks and Sunny Ortiz announced the advent of the second set as Dave Schools joined in to feast on a deep-dish slice of J.J. Cale’s “Travelin’ Light”. JB brought out his slide guitar for the second time before Jimmy picked up right where he left off in the first frame.
JoJo’s piano then introduced a tasty “Good People” sandwich loaded with a hearty portion of “Dark Bar” in the middle. Weaving back through the back half of “Good People”, JoJo dialed in the funk, which spread wings for a psychedelic flight into “Pigeons”.
JB delivered a haunting performance of “Mercy” until the band flipped the switch and spiraled into a merciless jam. There, in the dark catacombs, WSP settled into an ungodly nook where few can inhabit. This is where the band thrives. As the dust settled and the last remnants of the previous song’s structure faded away, all that remained was “Drums”.
Sunny and Duane knocked back a six-pack of percussive minutes between themselves before their bandmates joined the barrage and carved “Rock” out of the Earth’s crust. JB donned his slide once more, taking it off only to give Herring space to fly. JB and Schools plummeted through a conclusive call-and-response, sinking through the waters until JoJo’s organ grabbed them by the collars during “Climb to Safety”. This Jerry Joseph and Glenn Esparza song is rarely played mid-set.
Widespread Panic — “Rock” — 6/4/25
[Video: Jessi Ware]
Winding down the second set, a pairing of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” and Talking Heads’ “Life During Wartime” combined for a foreboding finish. Both songs are rife with imagery of protests and conflict and feelings of living amid chaos, fear, and paranoia (“Sounds of gunfire / off in the distance / I’m getting used to it now”). The closing line to the Stephen Stills composition, “Step out of line, the man come and take you away”, is directly parallel to Schools’ last two “Sleeping Man” immigration-inflected raps in Charleston, SC, and St. Augustine, FL, earlier this year.
Before the encore, Schools—whose unexpected trip to the hospital postponed the original February 2024 run—voiced his appreciation to the audience, “Thanks for waiting around for a year and a half for these shows, Chicago.” Widespread Panic then concluded hump day with a pairing of new and old originals as “We Walk Each Other Home” accelerated into a fast “Porch Song”.
Two more nights ahead in Chi-Town: chaos, pandemonium, and Widespread Panic. The zealous fans do their best interpretations of the running of the bulls, flicking beans, and debating whether deep dish is pizza or lasagna. Until tomorrow, Good People.
Widespread Panic — “Stop Breaking Down Blues” (Robert Johnson) — 6/4/25
[Video: Nunupics Zomot]
Setlist: Widespread Panic | Chicago Theatre | Chicago, IL | 6/4/25
Set One: From the Cradle > Imitation Leather Shoes > Weight of the World > Party At Your Mama’s House > Stop Breakin’ Down Blues (Robert Johnson), This Part of Town, Big Wooly Mammoth > Radio Child, Little By Little (67 mins)
Set Two: Travelin’ Light (J.J. Cale), Good People > Dark Bar > Good People > Pigeons, Mercy > Drums > Rock, Climb To Safety (Jerry Joseph, Glenn Esparza), For What It’s Worth (Buffalo Springfield), Life During Wartime (Talking Heads) (76 mins)
Encore: We Walk Each Other Home, Porch Song (12 mins)
– LTP ‘From the Cradle’ 3/04/23 Las Vegas (62 shows)
– LTP ‘Weight of the World’ 10/23/22 Milwaukee (76 shows)
– ‘L.A. Woman’ & ‘Mountain Jam’ teases during PAYMH
– LTP ‘This Part of Town’ 10/28/23 Savannah (32 shows)
– “So we can burn Chicago down” and “Mrs O’Leary’s cow” (often blamed for Great Chicago Fire of 1871) during ‘Big Wooly Mammoth’